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Last season was a dreadful one for the NFC East as a whole. It was literally one of the worst divisions in NFL history. Collectively the group was only able to reach 23 wins throughout the season, and the Washington Football Team sat atop the other three as they had the most with seven. It is rare for a division to be won with a below-.500 record, but that was life in the NFC East last season.
What is perhaps even more rare is for a reigning division champion to move on from their most notable starting quarterback. Alex Smith was not the Washington starter when the season began (they also moved on from that quarterback as well in Dwayne Haskins Jr.), but he did have the most success. As many thought would be the case though, Washington is getting ready to move on.
The Washington Football Team is expected to part ways with Alex Smith and is looking to upgrade via trade or free agency
Washington’s most recent division titles have come in down years for the Dallas Cowboys as they won it in 2015 when Tony Romo missed most of the season and this past year when Dak Prescott did as well. It feels safe to say that most Cowboys fans believe that had their team had a healthy signal-caller that they would have won the division each of those times.
2020 marked the first time since another Washington title that the Football Team swept Dallas. 2012 (the RGIII season) was the last time that Washington went undefeated against the Cowboys before they did this past season and the stability provided by Alex Smith was a huge reason why. They will be bidding adieu to him shortly, though.
The Washington Football Team is expected to part ways with QB Alex Smith in the coming days, sources tell me and @KimJonesSports. The AP Comeback Player of the Year has said he still wants to play, and at age 36 may have a chance to do so.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 1, 2021
This was certainly expected and what comes of Alex Smith’s career from this point will be very interesting. He has come back from a lot to get to this point and it would be nice to see him have continued success.
Speaking of the Football Team, their only quarterback option right now is the one that started in their playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Taylor Heinicke. Washington already brought Heinicke back this offseason so he will be there, but according to the NFL Network report about Smith the Football Team is planning on upgrading their quarterback position over the offseason by way of trade or free agency (again, not shocking).
This is all notable news though, as predictable as it was. Washington has the best defense in the NFL East and an offense that is seemingly a quarterback away from locking the whole group into serious contention. It honestly worked out that they were the team to win the division as they wound up with the worst first-round pick of the bunch (and therefore face the most difficulty in drafting someone highly), but with the expected quarterback movement around the league this offseason they could find another option rather easily.